| Abstract: | Administrators and professionals must make social decisions within the environment of the computer revolution. This means that precise skills of logical problem solving and quantitative methods may assume an increasingly prominent place in college preparation for business and social sciences. At the same time, colleges are under pressure not to “select out” persons who are disadvantaged in quantitative areas. With a widening “quantitative gap,” major surgery of existing math and stat courses is unlikely to meet the challenge of this new social environment. Programmed Decisions Structures (PDS) is experimental coursework in a quantitative undergraduate core for business and social sciences. Particular features of PDS were developed to emphasize (1) motivation of the student, (2) credible simulation of realistic business and social environment, (3) awareness of logically developed structures, and (4) principles of applied scientific method. Constructed around the above four points, it is hoped that PDS will close the “quantitative gap” more effectively than the 20 quarter hours of conventional math, stat and computer courses which it replaces. |
